This past May, I made my now-annual mid-year trip to the US, I decided to take a short train trip under the Hudson to Jersey City, a place I called home from 1999-early 2001. This was then, a trip back to the past, along with a street art safari. And I wasn’t disappointed. A long walk on Newark Avenue yielded some fantastic results, as you’ll see. The murals are part of the Jersey City Mural Arts project, which is an initiative of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs. It’s a good idea to check the website or do a bit of Google research to find out where some of the interesting pieces are located. I was happy to see a mural by one of my favorites, Italian artist Alice Pasquini.

Jersey City has gentrified quite a bit over the last 20 years, and there is a decent offering of restaurants and cafes in case you get hungry or thirsty on your way from the Newport PATH station to the Journal Square station. Especially interesting is the row of Indian restaurants just off the Journal Square station.

The artist Joel Arroyo has been decorating surfaces around my neighborhood of Gràcia (see the Frida Kahlo entry below) for nearly a year now, and just a few weeks back he painted the shutters of the “co-working” which is on the bottom floor of my building, and occupies the corner of Bruniquer and Montmany streets. The portraits are of Mandela, and two women, and appears to be a nod to activism, refugees and first nations/indigenous peoples. The other image is a bit more satirical in nature and is of ousted, disgraced Spanish president Mariano Rajoy with a clown nose, which was also found here in Gràcia, on Llibertat street. This one appeared not even a week after Rajoy lost a no-confidence vote provoked by innumerable corruption scandals and was forced to leave office by opposition parties in Congress, much to the delight of probably my entire neighborhood, which is decidedly left-leaning.

On another note, this blog was once again listed by the travel website Spotted by Locals as one of the best Barcelona blogs for 2018. Here is a link to the article.

In addition, Spotted by Locals has also developed an app, which puts their fantastic, tourist-trap free travel guides to various cities in your pocket. Here’s how to get hold of them.

These shots come from my (now) annual trip to the US just before and after Memorial Day, in which I spend about 7 of those days roaming NYC in search of anything interesting that may have popped up since my last visit during the subzero cold snap at the end of December. New York never disappoints, and I found some fantastic street art. In fact, I’ll have to divide the post into three parts: Manhattan, Jersey City, and Brooklyn.

The photos in this entry come mostly from the Lower East Side and East Village, though there are a few shots from Harlem as well.

Here are a few shots from the latest visit to the 3 Chimneys park near just off Paral·lel Avenue. While the work I find is sometimes hit or miss, I like the way the park itself has evolved into a sort of street art oasis in the middle of the city. It also seems to be attracting more and more tourists with increasingly professional photography gear, though much of it is being used to make skate videos.

The other shots come from the interior of the old city centre, where new work continues to become increasingly rare. I can only hope the summer will bring some surprises.

As the title suggests, my featured shot for this entry is a work in progress which is being painted on the doors of a street-level parking facility on Ros de Olano street just a few blocks from my home. The artist has also painted another gate on my street, but I’m including this one, as the subject is more exciting to me: the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

The other shots are from various gates, a large mural of a baby from the Vallcarca neighbourhood, a pasteup criticizing the selfie culture, and two large pasted up murals which I think come from the same artist, and can also be found here in Gràcia.

The photos here come from my twice-yearly pilgrimage to the US, this one just around the Christmas holiday. Almost all of these shots come from the Lower East Side and East Village, and were taken, as the title indicates, during one of the coldest cold snaps in recent history. I found myself having to wear three or four layers just to spend an hour or two walking the streets of lower Manhattan. I wasn’t able to make it out to Brooklyn, as my time in NYC was less than 24 hours, but I certainly wasn’t disappointed. My favorites would be the double vision Mickey mouse, the mailbox Basquiat, and the Debbie Harry mural. I also tried to get various shots of large scale work, mostly on Allen Street on the Lower East Side.

My last set of shots for 2017 here in Barcelona came near the Three Chimneys Park just off Paral·lel, which hosts the “free walls” graffiti project. Be sure to check this article from July, via fellow blogger Barcelona Lowdown. The other photos are from just across the street at the (relatively) new Arnau Gallery, the open-air mural project which has a rotating schedule of public exhibitions. The one in this post was replaced about two weeks ago, but it’s definitely worth the trip if you’re in town. Here is a link to the facebook page with some past work, and some interesting videos.

While the political chaos swirls around me, and daily life gets into the mix, it’s easy to forget that the show most certainly does go one. And street art is no exception.

I was reminded of this just a few days ago when I received, via twitter, the news that Spotted by locals, a website and app that serves as a guide to more than 65 cities worldwide, had chosen this blog to be on their list of the best of Barcelona. Be sure to take a look at the list here, as I’m in some excellent company.

As for the photos in this post, they range pretty much from the middle of July to just last week, and are from various locations, hence the title of this post. Many of them are from the murs lliures project in Poblenou, and have probably been replaced a few times over. Others are small shots from here in Gràcia, or the old city center. I have a small hunting expedition planned for the bank holiday coming up this week, so expect more in the next week or two!

The annual Festa Major de Gràcia, which takes place in mid-August, began as all the others I’ve witnessed here over the years: the week or two of frenetic preparations, the blocking of streets, the quiet buzz before the tsunami of tourists and locals that would descend upon our normally tranquil little village. However, on the 17th, which was the third day of festivities, the Rambla attacks took place, and cast a shadow on the remaining days of the festival. The Spanish president declared three days of mourning, and all the more raucous night time activities, such as concerts, were cancelled. The decorations stayed up, and the daytime, family-oriented activities continued as usual, but from Thursday evening on, there was an eerie calm in the crowds.

People still came, but the crowds were noticeably thinner, though as the initial shock wore off, more people began to make their way up.

The themes this year were varied, from the Petit Principe, to demons and devils, to rock and roll, to The Neverending Story, Ghostbusters, and the Bolshevik Revolution, to my personal favorite of any theme so far, John Waters’ Pink Flamingos, complete with a giant figure of Divine as herself, the “Filthiest Person Alive”.

This year’s winning entry was themed after a ski resort in the Pyrenees, complete with falling snow.

When heading down Carrer Marina toward the sea, just across the street from the (thankfully) now-defunct Monumental bullfighting arena, you can dip into a small plaza with some basketball courts and benches called the Jardins Interior d’illa de Clotilde Cerdà. On the walls of these “gardens” you’ll find an eclectic collection of mosaic art, created by students from the escola Massana, and originate from student work which dealt with the theme of multiculturalism.

While this isn’t the typical street art, it’s a great little trip off-off the beaten track if you decide to take the hike from the Sagrada Familia down to the sea.